Automatic make and break contactor



Sept. 4, 192a. 1,682,982

H. W. PROTZELLER AUTOIATIC'IAKE AND BREAK CONTACTOR Filed Feb. 23, 19272 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 I rmrenfir I 5 WfifO/iler Sept. 4, 1928.

H. W. PROTZELLER AUTOMATIC MAKE AND BREAK CONTACTOR Filed Feb. 23, 19272 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 4, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT orFice.

HARRY V]. PROTZELLER, F EELS? CHICAGO, INDIANA, ASSIGNOB TO 0. F.JORDAN- COMPANY, OF EAST CHICAGO, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

AUTOMATIC MAKE Ann BREAK con racroni Application. filed February Thisinvention relates to improvements in automatic make and breakcontactors'and it consists of the matters hereinafter described and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficientmeans car ried' by a railway car or vehicle such as a rail joint oilerand adapted to normallyhave a rolling support upon one of the rails of atrack and to include a device adapted to engage a portionof each railjoint in said track and momentarily close a circuit to an associateddevice as for instance the electrically actuated valve of a rail jointoiler. A further object of the invention is t provide such a devicewhich includes a swin'gable arm for engagement with a joint plate. whicharm includes a renewable contact finger at one end and a spring" pressedcontact member at its other end adapted to engage a normally fixedcontact member which is capable of an adjustable movement toward andaway from the movable contact member whereby the timing of the makingand breaking of the circuit may be readily cont-rolled. I 1

Another object of the inventionis to provide a stop for the contact armto limit the movement thereof should the same be swung; beyond the endof the fixed contact.

These objects of the invention as well as others together with the manyadvantages thereof will more fully appear as I proceed with myspecification. In the drawingsr- Fig. 1 is a view in sideelevation of anautomatic make and break contactor embodyine; my invention as whenforming a part of a rail joint oiler.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale,as taken on the line 22 thereof and shows the contactor in end elevationand in operative positionwith respect to a rallroad -ra1l.

further enlarged scale.

Fig. at is a vertical sectional view through the same as taken on theline 4-4 of Fig. 1 5 is a transverse vertical detail sectionalviewthi'ough the same as taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. I H Fig. 6 is adiaerammatieal view ofa' cirpuit which will bemore'fully referred toater. A

192?. Serial 110,170,300.

Referring now in detail to that embodilongitudinal side sill members ofa rail joint oiler mounted on wheels 2 adapted to travel.

upon a railroad track, the abutting rail ends 38 ofwhich are jointedtogether by' the usual oint plates or bars 4, and bolts and nuts 5.Fixed to said side sill member and projecting laterally therefrom arefront and rear pairs of brackets 6 and 7 all of a like construction.Journalled in the front brackets 6-- 6 of the front pair ofjbra'ckets isa longitudinally extending rock shaftG secured against endwise movementtherein in any suitable manner, said rock shaft being arranged in aplane above and to the outside of the plane of the rail sections in theassociated rail. 8 indicates a eontaetor arm which includes a bottomsupporting member 9 in the form of a plate and a top bifurcatedsleeve-member 10 which is fixed to the shaft 6 by a set screw 11. Theflat top end of the supporting member 9 extends into the bifurcatedpartofthe sleeve v10 which is slotted as at 12 and bolts 13 withassociated nuts, pass throughsaid slots and through suitable holes insaid supporting member to operatively secure them together. By'thisconstruction the cont-actor arm may be lengthened or shortened as isnecessary to tion of the underside of the plate part 15 an areuate blockof insulating material 17 is disposed in a manner making it arcuately,

adjustable thereon. To provide this adjust- I ment I form in theperipheral portion of V said plate part two end. slots andfan inter- 3is a bottom plan view thereof on a mediate slot 18, 19 and 20respectively, all concentric with the stud 14. The end parts tact member23, the ends of said bottom sun face being shed with wear plates 24 ofsuitthe plate part 15 by spring 40, one endable insulating material. Thecontact plate 23 carries a binding post 25 in the form of a screw orbolt which extends up through the intermediate slot 20 and has thereontwo nuts 26, between which the end of a suitable current conductor 27may be attached to said binding post. This conductor leads up to an eye28 in the sleeve 10 and from there to a suitable source of currentsupply as will later appear. It is apparent that by loosening the nutsbefore mentioned the block of insulation material 17 with the contactmember 23 thereon may be moved arcuately in either direction and thenlooked in that position by again tightening up said nuts.

A suitably bushed roller 29 is journalled on the stud 14 for peripheralengagement with the inner corner of the head of the rail sections ineach rail. Also journalled on' said stud at a point substantially midwaybetween its ends is a contact lever'30. The

outer end 31 of said lever which is shorter 'end 32 of the contact lever30 is an upwardly extending annular boss 34 in which a yield.- mgcontact member or plug 35 isdlsposed. A helical spring 36 1s interposedbetween said plug and a screw 37 threaded in said annular boss from thebottom. Thus the- .contact member or plug is yieldingly held. andurgedupwardly into contact with not,

only one of the wearing plates 25 but also into contacting engagementwith the contact plate 23 when the lever is swung in one direction aswill soon hereinafter appear.

The inner end of said contact leveris normally held against anadjustable stop shoulder formed by a set screw 38 threaded through aboss or lug 39 on the bottom of of which is fixed to the lever near theboss '34 and the other end of which is fixed to an eyedbolt 41 threadedinto a lug 42 on the bottom of the plate part 15.",Another adjustablestop'shoulder is provided on said plate in the form ofa set screw 4-3threaded into a boss or lug44 also on the bottom of the plate part 15and this stop shoulder pre- 36; The contactor arm 8 as a whole beingmounted as described is of course grounded electrically to the side sillmember of the vehicle frame.

Associated with the contactor and con trolled thereby is anelectromagnetic valved indicated as a whole at 45 and which is.

fixed to the side sill member 1 in a position between'the pairs of frontand rear brackets 6 and 7 respectively. Said valve which includes amagnetic coil 46 has attached to it a swingable duplex spray nozzle 47to so straddle the rail as to discharge two conical sprays, one uponeach side of a rail joint it is passed. The fluid to the nozzles isdelivered to the valve casing under pressure by any suitable means notshown and when the coil 46 is energized by completing the circuitthereto as when the contactor approaches and passes a rail joint, thesaid coil actuates a valve to permit a passage of the fluid .into thenozzles. So

. soon as the rail joint is passed the circuit to the coil is broken andthe same is de-energized'thus closing off the passage offluid to saidnozzle. The nozzle being swingably connected to the valve casing may beswung upwardly away from'the rail as by means of a chain 48 which isfixed to a sprocket 49 on a short transverserock shaft 50 journalled inthe frontmost bracket ot'the rear pair of brackets 7. Said rock shaft isactuated counterclockwise by a lever 51 pivoted at 52 to the side sillmember and made integral with. said lever is a segmental gear 53 meshingwith a pinion 5O (see Fig. 2.)

' fixed to said rock shaft. The nozzle is swung into operative positionwith respect to the rail by a spring 54 fixed, at one end to the nozzlehead and at its other end to a bracket 55 extending forwardly'from thevalve casing. A set screw 56 carried by said bracket'provides anadjustable stop against which said nozzle engages to be limited as toangularity when in operative position with respect to the rail.

Preferably but not necessarily so the contactor8 as a whole may be soconnectedup to the nozzle, that when said lever 51 is actuated to swingthe nozzle into inoperative position. the contactor is also swungupwardly under the Slll member into an out of the way position. Suchmeans comprises a chain or other flexible means 57 connected at one endto the contactor rib 16 and at the otherend to segment 58 pivoted at 59to the side sill member, the segment itself being connected to the lever51 by a link 60 all as best shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Thus whenthe lever 51 is swung clockwise it rocks the. shaft 50 counter clockwiseto wind up the chain 48 to swing the nozzle head 47 into 7 itsinoperative position. By reasonof the linkconnection between said leverand the segment 58 the chain 57 isliltewise wound up-to swing thecontactoras a whole, up under the vehicle. 3 Suitable quadrant anddetent means (notshown) associated with the lever so holdsthesamethatthe nozzle inoperative position.

'and'magnetic valve and such connections are as follows: One terminal ofthe oil d6 is electrically connected to the contact 23 by the conductor27 as before mentioned, while the other terminalofthe 'coil is connectedby a conductor 27 to one side of a battery B the other side of which isgrounded as shown in Fig. 6. The contactor lever-30 is grounded asbeforementioned to the vehicle frame.

When the spray nozzleand contactor are in their operative positions asshown in Fig. l they ope ate as follows: As the vehicle is travellingover the rails, the roller 29 of the contactor will roll along the innertop corher of the head of the rail, with the contact finger 33 inposition just below the head of the rail as best shown in Fig. 2. As arail joint is approached, said finger will engage the advancing end ofthe inner plate of the joint and will ride in engagement with the sideof said plate thus swinging the lever 30 about its axis as provided bythe stud lt against the actionof the spring 40. This will swing the arm32 of the lever over t-he contact plate 23 so as to bring the contactplug into engagement with said plate as best shown in dotted lines inFig. 2...

The circuit is thus completed or closed to the magnetic valve whichopens to permit the passage or spraying fluid under pressure to thenozzles. So long as the contact finger engages the joint plateor bar,the circuit is held closed and the valve is held open. However, so soonas said finger leaves the joint plate, the spring l0 acts to return thelever'30 to its normal position against the set screw 88 wherein thecontact plug is removed from the contact plate 23 and the circuit isbroken, permitting the valve to close and shut off the passage ofspraying fluid to said nozzles.

B y loosening the set screw 11 and moving the bifurcated sleeve 10 onthe shaft 6 toward or away from the magnetic valve and by adjusting theblock 17 and Contact plate 28 thereon, arcuately in the proper direc-;

tion, the timing of the opening and closing of the circuit to themagnetic valve bars may be readily determined with respect to the railjoint. v

' My improved contactor is simple in construction and is quiet andpositive in operation. It embodies only a few parts which are not onlystrong and rigid but which are readily adjustable and also easilyaccessible .for inspection and repair.

l'Vhile in describing my invention I have referred to many details ofconstruction well as form and arrangement of the parts thereof, the sameis to be considered as by way of illustration only so that I do not wishto be limited thereto except as may claims.- I claim as my invention:Y 1. A contactor of the kind descr1bedem-- bodying. therein a supportingmember, roller o'urnalled on one end thereof for be )OlIlteCl out in thea pended l i. a

guiding engagement with a rail, means at the'other end of said memberfor supporting the same from above to maintain said roller in engagementwith said rail by gravity, a stationary contact member on saidsupporting member, a double arm lever pivoted on said member, a contactmember movable with one arm thereof into and out of engagement with saidstationary contact member, a joint plate contact finger removablysecured to the other arm of said lever and means so connected to saidlever as to hold the contact finger movable therewith out of engagementwith said stationary contact member. I

2. A contactor of the kind described comprising a'lengthwise adjustablearm, means providing a pivotal connection for one end of said arm, aplate on the other end of said arm extending at a right angle thereto, arail engaging roller on said last mentioned end of said arm, a twoarmlever pivoted for a swinging movement parallel with the plate, one ofsaid arms constituting a rail joint engaging member, a'contact platecarried by said plate, a contact member carried by the other arm of saidlever for engagement with the first contact member, a spring engagingparts of said plate and lever for holding said contacts out ofengagement and 1 adjustable stop shoulders on the plate for limiting the.movements .of the lever.

3. In a cont actor of the kind described, he combination of a swingablearm with a plate at one end thereof, a two arm lever pivoted thereto, acontact member carried by one of said arms, anarcuately adjust ablecontact member on said. plate, adjustable stops on the plate for saidlast mentioned arm of said lever and spring means connecting parts ofsaid plate and lever re spectively for holding said lever against one ofsaid stops with said cont-act members out of engagement.

l. In a cont-actor of the kind described, the combination of a swingablearm with a plate at one end thereof, a two arm lever pivoted thereto, acontact jmember carried by one of said arms, slots in said plate concentric with the axis of said lever, a block of insulation with boltspassing-through some of said slots, a contactplate on said block andhaving a binding post passing through the other of said slots,adjustable steps on said plate for said lever and a spring for holdingsaid lever against one.

the combination of a supporting member.

With a plate at one end, s .a lever pivoted to able in said boss forengaging said arcuately said plate, an arcuately adjustable contactadjustable contact member when said lever member on said plate, stopshoulders for is swung toward the same against the action 0 saidle\'er,'a spring for holding said lever of said spring. r against one ofsaid shoulders, said lever In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set'having an annular boss on one end thereof my hand, this 15 day ofFebruary, 1927.

and a spring pressed contact member yield HARRY W. PROTZELLER.

